Machines

Instant or Full VM

Instant machines are ready in seconds on our tuned Linux (see Benchmarks). A Full VM runs a distro's own cloud image with its own kernel (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Rocky, AlmaLinux, CentOS Stream, Arch, openSUSE): pick FULL VM when you create a machine. Same sizes, same prices; its first boot takes about 15 seconds. To boot your own cloud image, pick Your own image… and paste its https URL (qcow2 or raw with cloud-init, not compressed, no bigger than the machine's disk). If a Full VM doesn't come up, its page has Boot log… (its console; c copies it), and agents read the same log with boot_log over MCP or GET /v1/machines/{name}/bootlog.

To type into a Full VM before it has networking (a broken network config, a firewall that locked you out), join its serial console: ssh -t console-web-1@shell.639cloud.com (put your machine's name after console-). Press Enter for a login prompt. To leave, press Enter, then ~.. One person at a time; viewers can't. Every Full VM can also run its own VMs (KVM is available inside), and Docker works on all of them.

Proxmox VE 9 (Full VM, 4 GiB RAM or more) comes ready to sign in to: the machine's "ready" screen (and create_machine's or the API's create reply) has its web UI link and a root password made for that machine alone. The password is shown only then: save it (lost it? ssh in and run sudo passwd root). The link is private: its URL is a one-time sign-in (use it within 15 minutes; the browser then stays signed in for 30 days), and the machine's Links makes new ones. VM 9000 debian-13-template is ready to clone (set a password or SSH key under Cloud-Init), a Debian 13 container template is in Create CT, and guests on bridge vmbr1 get DHCP and internet through the machine.

Sandboxes

For code you don't trust yet, make the machine a sandbox: an Instant machine with no public address and no VPC, deleted when its lifetime ends (an hour unless you change it). Pick SANDBOX when you create a machine, or see the Sandboxes page.

Lifetimes

Any machine can have a lifetime: it is deleted, with everything in it, when the lifetime ends. Use it for work that should clean up after itself (a batch job, a review environment). On its page: Lifetime…; from code: lifetime_seconds on create or PATCH; agents use set_lifetime. Delete protection wins over a lifetime. A sandbox always has one unless you keep it.

Sleep and wake

A new machine stays on. Turn on auto-sleep (machine page → Sleep after, or set_auto_sleep / "auto_sleep": true in the API) and it goes to sleep on its own when it's idle: nobody attached, no command running, and next to no CPU in use. Sleeping keeps its memory and disk exactly as they were, and you pay only for its disk. The next shell, command, file transfer or API call wakes it, right where it left off.

Everything inside a sleeping machine is frozen. Traffic arriving at its public address does not wake it.

Keep a job running: keepawake

Start long background jobs with keepawake, and auto-sleep waits until the job exits:

nohup keepawake ./build.sh > build.log 2>&1 &

Or turn auto-sleep off for the machine instead.

Sizes

Size	CPU	RAM	Disk
s1	1 core	1 GiB	20 GB
s2	1 core	2 GiB	25 GB
s4	2 cores	4 GiB	50 GB
s8	4 cores	8 GiB	100 GB
s16	8 cores	16 GiB	200 GB
s32	16 cores	32 GiB	400 GB
s64	32 cores	64 GiB	800 GB

Cores are shared between machines: a machine gets its CPU when it needs it. Usable RAM is a little under the size, because the kernel keeps some for itself.

Resize live

Machine page → Resize…: sliders for RAM, CPU and disk, with the live price. RAM and CPU change with no reboot up to the machine's ceiling; past it, the app offers a restart (about 10 seconds). The disk grows live and never shrinks.

From the command line:

:resize ubuntu-1 ram 2G cpu 1
:resize! ubuntu-1 ram 8G        # ! allows a restart past the ceiling

Restart and recovery

Restart cold-boots the machine from its disk in about 10 seconds. If a machine crashes, the app shows the error and offers a one-key restart.

Labels

Tag machines with key=value labels (a project, a customer, an environment) to find them and see what each costs. On a machine's page they show under the cost; / in My machines finds them (acme, or label:project=acme). From code: labels when you create a machine, PATCH to change them, GET /v1/machines?label=project=acme, and GET /v1/usage?…&group_by=label:project for the cost per project. Agents use set_labels.

Secrets

Give a machine its Git token or API keys as it's made: secrets on create or fork, from the API or an agent (create_machine, fork_machine, fork_template). Each one is a root-only file in /etc/639/secrets/ and an environment variable in shells and commands. We keep no copy; they live on the machine's disk, so its snapshots and forks have them too.

Many machines at once

On My machines, space marks a machine, a marks everything shown, and enter opens the actions for the marked set: sleep, wake, restart, auto-sleep on/off, delete. Search picks the set: state:running, size:s1, vpc:NAME, image:ubuntu, and wildcards like web-*. The command line takes the same selectors:

:sleep state:running
:delete web-*          # always asks first

Notes

Each machine keeps a running log that everyone in your account sees: who wrote what, and when. Use it for the things the next person (or agent) needs to know: "migrated the db, don't restart before 5pm", "port 8080 is the staging API", "ask Ana before upgrading".

In the app: the machine page shows the latest two; Notes… lists them all. n adds one (several lines are fine; ctrl+s saves), e edits your own, d deletes.

From a terminal:

ssh note@shell.639cloud.com ls web-1
ssh note@shell.639cloud.com add web-1 "migrated the db, don't restart before 5pm"
ssh note@shell.639cloud.com add web-1 < handover.txt
ssh note@shell.639cloud.com edit n_k7f2q9xm3a "fine to restart now"
ssh note@shell.639cloud.com rm n_k7f2q9xm3a --yes

Agents read and write them with list_notes and add_note, and list_machines shows how many each machine has. An agent's note is labelled with the agent and the person it works for, e.g. "Claude Code via MCP · Ana Ruiz".
The API and SDKs: GET/POST /v1/machines/{name}/notes; machine.notes(), machine.add_note("…").

You edit and delete your own notes; your account's owners and admins can delete anyone's, and viewers can read them but not write. A note is plain text, up to 4 KB; a machine keeps up to 200. Deleting a machine deletes its notes.

For instructions agents should follow rather than just read, use Rules (see Rules for agents).

Inside a machine

You are root. There are no loadable kernel modules (modprobe fails; drivers are built in).

This page as Markdown: /docs/machines.md